Wahlberg felt good vibrations in Pittsburgh

Sunday

Mark Wahlberg didn't take off his shirt Thursday at his Pittsburgh press conference.

Trust me: If he had done so, our staff photographer Lucy Schaly would have sprained a finger snapping as many pictures as possible.

Oh, I still recall the women in the office here being so excited about Wahlberg's shirtless scene in "Date Night."

Really, ladies, is that how you judge a man?

Well, at least Wahlberg is looking to help other guys get that chiseled-abs look, now that he is partnering with Pittsburgh-based GNC on a new line of sports performance nutrition products called Marked.

"I've always been passionate about fitness," Wahlberg said at Thursday's product launch, adding that it took 2-1/2 years for him and GNC to come up with the right plan for his line of multivitamins, pre-workout igniter and protein shakes and bars.

To spread the word, Wahlberg hosted and emceed a concert Thursday at Stage AE featuring rock band 3 Doors Down.

At a pre-show, red-carpet press conference, Wahlberg talked warmly about his Pittsburgh visit, which included golfing at Nevillewood, cocktails at LeMont on Mount Washington and a meal at the Duquesne Club.

"I love it here ... maybe I should get a condo," Wahlberg said.

What stood out most for him was a visit to Pittsburgh's refurbished Market Square with all its funky restaurants and stores.

"When it was time to leave there, I was like, 'Dude, let me hang here for a few more hours,'" the 41-year-old Boston native said.

Wahlberg said he'd love to shoot a movie in Pittsburgh, and though he's a New England Patriots fan, he has a profound respect for the loyalty of Steelers Nation.

Asked to pinpoint the proudest moment of his career, the former chart-topping pop star (C'mon, you remember "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch) and star of 2010's "The Fighter" picked his executive producer work for HBO's "Entourage" and "Boardwalk Empire."

Three Doors Down thought enough of Wahlberg to drive here from Nashville exclusively to perform at the Stage AE show, which also raised money for the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and Pressly Ridge Foundation.

Three Doors Down singer Brad Arnold told me the band is finalizing dates for a full-length tour and will release a greatest-hits album with four new songs.

If you find it hard to believe they've been around long enough to compile a greatest-hits album, well, Arnold is, too.

"I just wanted to have a hit," he said, emphasizing the "a."

The band's 2000 debut, with "Kryptonite," "Loser" and "Be Like That," made it all possible.

METRIC SYSTEM

Garbage.

That's what Canadian alt-rock band Metric sounded like Tuesday at Stage AE.

Well, and a little like Muse, too.

Both are compliments, of course, as fans of '90s synth-band Garbage and bombastic British rockers Muse can attest.

Like Garbage, Metric has a strong-voiced female singer, Emily Haines, who coneys toughness, playfulness and sexiness -- sometimes in combination.

Sporting shorts that revealed plenty of thigh, Haines high-stepped around the stage in a manner that was both dorky and hot -- not an easy trick. The first words out of her mouth, from the song "Artificial Nocturne," had her acknowledging she's as "f---ed up" as people say. The next song, "Youth Without Youth," set a bouncy, Muse-like beat to Haines' poetic imagery of teen alienation, for which she sprinkles in references to children's games like blindman's bluff and double dutch.

Both songs are from "Synthetica," the band's synth-drenched 2012 album. Though all three keyboards on their stage Tuesday got a workout, a good number of the songs relied more on guitarist James Shaw's taut, Interpol-like leads.

Hours prior to the show, Metric gave an in-studio performance at WXDX-FM in Green Tree. I've heard "The X" play "Youth Without Youth," and hope the local alt-rock station digs even deeper into the Metric catalog.

TIDBITS

Queen Latifah canceled her Oct. 25-26 concerts at Heinz Hall. A Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra press release blames the cancellation on "a scheduling conflict with the artist." Unless specifics are named, I usually assume "scheduling conflict" means the artist scheduled a show in a city where he or she isn't selling enough tickets.I'll play Bad Books' "It Never Stops" and Stars' "Hold on When You Get Love, Let Go When You Give It" as guest music critic Wednesday morning on 91.3-WYEP. Bad Books is a pairing of Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull. They've got rich harmonies reminiscent of Dawes. The Stars song has a retro, electro-pop appeal that hearkens to Erasure.Online music magazine Consequence of Sound celebrated its fifth anniversary by compiling a list of the 100 greatest songs. Their top five: 1. The Beach Boys, "God Only Knows"; 2. Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"; 3. Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone"; 4. Michael Jackson, "Man in the Mirror"; 5. The Beatles, "A Day in the Life."

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